Build a Debian package locally

Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2008 10:51:23 +0200
From: Fabian Pietsch <fabian@canvon.dyndns.org>
To: debian-devel@lists.debian.org
Cc: sadsjon <jon.rowlan@sads.com>
Subject: Re: Compile ProFtpD on etch
Message-ID: <20080424085123.GA6061@silencer.int.canvon.de>
User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.13 (2006-08-11)
* sadsjon <jon.rowlan@sads.com> (Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:11:33 -0700):
>
> I have installed the proftpd package on etch.
>
> I need to use mod_ban so got hold of the sources and with some
> research managed to patch with the debian patch (at least I think I
> did - dpkg-source didn't report any problems and I ended up with a
> debian subdirectory).
>
>
> However, the configure script sets defined variables such as
> PR_RUN_DIR to something in /usr/local and it needs to be different to
> this to comply with what the standard installed package has in place.
[...]
> Can anyone tell me what I need to do to compile in the correct paths
> pls?
Perhaps you are trying to run ./configure directly. This would use
upstream's default directories, e.g., /usr/local etc.
When building a Debian package, one normally uses debian/rules, which
will give configure the right arguments. For local builds, this usually
works for me:
$ fakeroot debian/rules build binary
You could also use one of the several wrappers for this, like
dpkg-buildpackage, debuild etc. Also make sure you have build-essential
installed, and did: apt-get build-dep proftpd
It is usually a good idea to change the package's version for a local
build; this is done by prepending another entry in debian/changelog.
dch from devscripts can help with this, e.g.: dch -i
Then change the version number at the top to, e.g.: 1.3.0-19+sadsjon1
With a distinct version, you can easily verify in "dpkg -l proftpd'*'"
etc. that your own package is installed. Also you should prevent
automatic package upgrades (which would lose your local changes) by
setting the package on hold, e.g.: aptitude hold proftpd
Note that you'll have to watch for and include security fixes and the
like yourself after this.
Hope this helps & isn't inappropriate for the list.
Regards, Fabian
P.S.: Is there some short write-up like the above somewhere so that one
can just refer to there?
--
Fabian "zzz" Pietsch - http://zzz.arara.de/